A Rerun Of A Rerun

April 22, 1989

Just when you thought you were nearly done with the Ollie North affair - now that his case has finally gone to a jury - here comes news that proves network television can get even more boring: Soon, CBS will air the very tired North saga as a made-for-TV movie.

Will anybody actually watch this stuff? After all, every man, woman and child in the United States must have, by now, overdosed on the crazy capers of this former White House aide.

First, we had Oliver North, the hero of the Iran-Contra hearings. That was almost two summers ago and represented the only truly interesting part of the exhaustive North proceedings.

The hearings were followed by endless magazine stories, news accounts and some pretty disgusting merchandising of Ollie paraphernalia.

Then the country's perception of North changed: He was seen as a hero no longer. Ollie, the superpatriot, became Ollie, the tarnished. He lied, and maybe even worse.

Now, we have suffered through a tedious North trial, really a rerun of those long past hearings. Who cares anymore?

Despite this long-running dud, CBS will offer up even more North in a two-part miniseries that airs April 30 and May 2. Someone should have told the network: What it's touting as new entertainment is the rerun of a rerun.